Dawn Miller

Dawn Miller's marvelous debut novel is a grand adventure -- and a glorious love story -- experienced with all the passion and yearning of a heroine you'll never forget: eighteen-year-old Callie Wade, whose hopeful heart is as rich with promise as the frontier, which calls her family from their Missouri farm to a new life out West. The Journal Of Callie Wade invites us into a world long vanished, brought to life once more in the pages of a young pioneer woman's diary. April 12, 1859: "What you can't duck, you best welcome." That's what Mama used to always say, anyway....Even though it was in me to fight going West, I couldn't; there's a light in Pa's eyes, a kind of hope that our Rose will find health and I see it in Jack's eyes, too. As wild and reckless as my brother can be, I know he dreams of better. When I look into Quinn's eyes I feel my own dreams, too...and the love. But everything is so unsure on the trail. Sitting here, staring at the scattered campfires of the train, I can almost hear the prayers to make it through another dust-choked mile, over another river, another birth...another death. Maybe Pa is right, maybe we'll all have a new chance at life in the West. But at what price? From bitter hardships to moments of shining joy, from unexpected friendships to Callie's blossoming love for Irishman Quinn McGregor, The Journal Of Callie Wade is a chronicle of courage and faith, an inspiring tale of hope and endurance to treasure for years to come.

The eight short stories included in this anthology offer a glimpse at Canada's geographic landscape-spanning the Yukon, Canadian Prairies, Great Lakes, and metropolitan Toronto while starring protagonists who are well-storied in loss, yet not all choose to grieve. You will crunch across sub-zero tundra and bake on the beach alongside our hero(in)es. You will live like hermits and populate condos. You will search the remains of a knocked down church and dig up a decades old box. You will fall in love with a fallen angel and a sufferer of galeophobia. Like the Canadians who created them, our feisty leads think outside the box to adapt to the challenges and changes thrust upon them.

This autobiographical account focuses on the author's experience with various churches throughout her life, offering an unvarnished view of these churches' strengths and weaknesses. Miller was raised within the United Church of Canada, where her father was a minister. She spent her first years in several towns on Vancouver Island and in the Lower Fraser Valley of British Columbia. She took teacher training at the University of British Columbia. Following a few years of teaching, she married Barry, a Saskatchewan farmer, and they raised their somewhat unusual family on the Canadian prairies. During that time, she returned to the evangelical faith of her Granddaddy Moses Nixon, a Methodist minister. Dawn and her family eventually began attending a Mennonite Brethren church and were active in it for many years. When they retired, they moved to Surrey, BC, where they lead Bible studies and care home ministries. Miller has experienced many ups and downs in life, but her personal faith in God has helped and guided her through those problems. Through it all, she has become convinced that church is an essential foundation for life. In this book, she gratefully relates the many ways churches helped her and her family. She seeks to call more people back to a life centered on this struggling institution.

Remember these words well. It’s only a thin veil that separates them from our world. As time grows near, they will return to make their war upon mankind. They will torment, attack, and cause destruction on this planet. They will never hunger; they will never sleep. They will walk amongst us unseen. Invisible to all but those born to see. And each generation of five that sees shall endure more than the last. But the final generation of Watchers will not only endure, not only watch… …THEY WILL FIGHT.

Pioneer woman Callie McGregor and her family are determined to survive the Indian massacres, prairie wildfires, droughts, and blizzards of the Montana territory in the 1800s with their faith intact.

Pioneer woman Callie McGregor and her family are determined to survive the Indian massacres, prairie wildfires, droughts, and blizzards of the Montana territory in the 1800s with their faith intact.

From the author of the acclaimed frontier novel The Journal of Callie Wade comes a magnificent chronicle of courage, trial, and triumph... Montana Territory, 1864: Jack Wade had nothing to lose when he left the wagon train that carried his sister Callie westward. Heartbroken over losing their sister Rose and wanted by the law, Jack heads to the only place for wild souls like himself: the rough-and-tumble gambling town of Virginia City. What he finds there outshines any prize won at the gaming tables -- he discovers Lillie, the down-to-earth card dealer who could be the love of his life. But just as Jack makes a fresh start, a murderous enemy crosses his path -- an explosive twist of fate that forces Jack to leave Lillie and sends him on the run once again. Out on the trail, wounded and half-starved, Jack is rescued by Raven, a beautiful Blackfoot woman, and with her tribe he finds the peace he seeks. But unseen adventures -- some tragic, some redemptive -- await Jack before he finds a place to call home....Written on the run or by the campfire light, in times of joy and grief, Jack's letters to Callie reveal his unforgettable journey as it unfolds -- and stand as a moving testament to the strength of the human spirit.